Selah fruit company president dies in copter crash

YAKIMA — The president of a Selah fruit company, Michael Monson of Monson Fruit, was killed Saturday in a helicopter crash during a fishing trip in British Columbia.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police said five others survived the crash that occurred shortly after the copter took off near Bute Inlet, about 62 miles northeast of Campbell River. The copter overturned in a river and Monson was trapped in the wreckage.

The Yakima Herald-Republic reported that the Monson family grows cherries, pears and apples on about 3,500 acres.